Atomic Systems

ambitious but when youve finished up to oxford, would you consider going on to paddington? i like the paddington to penzance route but itd be nice to have a modern route with the local branches like Marlow and Henley how they are nowadays

Extremely ambitious!

I'd like to do a good job on Didcot-Banbury first and then see (i) whether I've got the motivation to do more, and (ii) whether it would be worth turning to KRS or MSTS2.

Other things being equal, however, I have been toying with the possibility of going west to Swindon and east to Reading, possibly also up the old OW&W as far as Moreton, but no further.

Another possibility would be to do a standalone route or routes for the Marlow/Henley branches. We've got some excellent branchline routes available already - they work really well as standalone routes and are very popular, though they're mostly set prior to rationalisation when there's more scope for interesting activities. It's all very well trundling up and down between Maidenhead and Marlow, but I reckon I'd get bored fairly quickly!

yerkes wrote:Extremely ambitious!

I'd like to do a good job on Didcot-Banbury first and then see (i) whether I've got the motivation to do more, and (ii) whether it would be worth turning to KRS or MSTS2.

Other things being equal, however, I have been toying with the possibility of going west to Swindon and east to Reading, possibly also up the old OW&W as far as Moreton, but no further.

Another possibility would be to do a standalone route or routes for the Marlow/Henley branches. We've got some excellent branchline routes available already - they work really well as standalone routes and are very popular, though they're mostly set prior to rationalisation when there's more scope for interesting activities. It's all very well trundling up and down between Maidenhead and Marlow, but I reckon I'd get bored fairly quickly!

i can imagine your fanbase will grow if you did these branch lines lol i know id play em. youve got the bourne end bridge over the thames which may look good....thats probably about it really :-p

Interesting comment, Michael, about your modelling techniques improving with practice. I've found the same thing working on my Chiltern route. I've been wondering whether I should revisit Banbury, which I laid down very early in my route building, because I might be able to do a better job of it now. However, I don't think I can face it!

docmartin wrote:Interesting comment, Michael, about your modelling techniques improving with practice. I've found the same thing working on my Chiltern route. I've been wondering whether I should revisit Banbury, which I laid down very early in my route building, because I might be able to do a better job of it now. However, I don't think I can face it!

Come along one day....Banbury is a lovely place With the staff and the tracks and the track ect

Much as I would love to return to Banbury , actually I've jumped a bit down the line and have been working assiduously on Heyford. Here's an overview:


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There's a bit more work to do on the station approach (not least putting roads where trees curently exist!), but the bulk of what's left is the canalside area (out of the picture), and as you can see from the picture I've got a lot to do on the canal itself - docmartin will appreciate this particular aspect as it relates to his route

As anyone who knows the area will testify, although the railway was originally built to compete with the canal, it's the canal here which nowadays gets most of the custom on a typical day

There's a bit more on my blog.

Very good! Banbury is one heck of a challenge I would be glad to help

nath9425 wrote:Very good! Banbury is one heck of a challenge I would be glad to help

When I get to the stage of having completed an area, it would be very useful for someone who knows the area particularly well to have a look at it and give me some feedback. I'm trying to acquire as much route knowledge as possible, but (a) independent opinions are always worth listening to and (b) I'd like to get feedback from those who know parts of the route much better than I do.

So I'll bear you in mind

I sort of have a VERY LOW RESOLUTION Cab video from Banbury - Oxford - Leamington if that helps....

Don't ask how

Moving north to Kings Sutton... Here are four shots of 47358 and 47303 clagging northwards with a Freightliner. The road bridge about 0.5 mile north of the station is a favourite for photographers, and the last of the four shots is taken from the bridge. I still need to construct some houses and other non-railway buildings in the area, but otherwise this small area is near completion. Oh, and sorry for the 'carpet' texture of the station car park - I do need to work on that one...


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yerkes wrote:Been busy working on Radley - one station at a time. Not much left of it these days, and it looks particularly shabby with the old GW footbridge now removed (acquired by the GW Society) and replaced by what I hope is a temporary structure.

Work has now started putting the restored bridge back at Radley, because it looks like a building site there atm

Those screenshots look fab, keep up the good work!

richardpratt wrote:Work has now started putting the restored bridge back at Radley, because it looks like a building site there atm

Thanks for the tip-off - must have a look some time.

yerkes wrote:Moving north to Kings Sutton... Here are four shots of 47358 and 47303 clagging northwards with a Freightliner. The road bridge about 0.5 mile north of the station is a favourite for photographers, and the last of the four shots is taken from the bridge. I still need to construct some houses and other non-railway buildings in the area, but otherwise this small area is near completion. Oh, and sorry for the 'carpet' texture of the station car park - I do need to work on that one...


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Go on do the triangle at Didcot so we can see the two 47s clagg past on the avoider!
Great work, keep up the good work

Jon

champy wrote:Go on do the triangle at Didcot so we can see the two 47s clagg past on the avoider!
Great work, keep up the good work

Jon

The Duffs obliged for me this evening

At Didcot North Junction:


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Sailing past a 37 and 60 at the stabling point; it's always difficult getting good shots here, especially when there are fences in the way (I think I went a bit OTT with the fences actually - I'm sure there aren't that many in real life):


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And a view from the other side; a surprisingly empty Didcot yard:


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Looks real enough to me, as is the Didcot North shot i could have been on the footbridge taking a shot. http://allanwright.fotopic.net/p38634138.html. Taken by me earlier this year. Fences are about right look at this http://allanwright.fotopic.net/p10729004.html Also is there three chimneys??
Looks and feels very good!

Jon